Legislation

Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) ss61B, 61C(1)Cth
Commonwealth Govt
Defines Parental Responsibility : includes all duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which, by the law, aprents have in relation to children. This presumably includes consent to medical treatment. Also allows the court to consent to certain treatment that parents cannot consent to, eg sterilisation procedures (s67ZC).

Cases

Department of Health and Community Services (NT) v JWB (Marion’s Case) (1992) 175 CLR 218Cth
Case of a 14 year old girl with a severe intellectual disability. Her parents wished her to be sterilised. The court held that this was not a procedure that parents could consent to. Discusses the role of parents in consenting and refusing treatment and the assessment of competence in a minor. Also adopts the test for Gillick competence, the idea of the ‘mature minor’.

Docs v Y [1999] NSWSC 644NSW
Doctors applied for a young anorexic girl to be returned to hospital for treatment despite the wishes of both the young girl and the parents. Court exercising parens patriae jurisdiction and declaring the patient a ward of the state.

Gillick v West Norfolk AHAUK
Question was whether a girl under age 16 could ask for and receive contraception without the consent of her parents. A child is considered capable of giving informed consent when he or she “achieves a sufficient understanding and intelligence to enable him or her to understand fully what is proposed.